Heartbroken: Padme's Final Moments
by danieloquence
Summary: A narrative of Padme's final day, as shown in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.


YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART  
_Padm__é's final moments_

(((**Author's Note: **As usual, Star Wars & all related characters, places, things, lines, descriptions – what_ever_ – obviously do NOT belong to me. (**_FAN_**-fiction, anyone?) Enjoy. And review if you are so inclined.)))

………………………………………………………………………….

I stood at the extensive windows, staring blankly at the building that was smoking, the deep red hue that had taken over the sky. Threepio whirred over to where I was standing, helpless, and tried to reassure me that Anakin was safe. As he clanked away, I could feel my child stirring, and felt worried all over again.

_If this child is anywhere near as powerful in the Force as his father, surely he can sense the trouble that I can feel – in my heart and all around._

………………………………………………………………………….

I remembered, days earlier, turning to face my husband: tall, broad-shouldered, strong, and handsome… _terribly handsome. _I wanted to smile, to hold him, to be hiding together on Naboo – away from the mess that was suddenly stirring in Coruscant, to love each other, to raise our baby. But the dark, brooding gray of his beautiful eyes and the tears filling them told me that something had gone dreadfully wrong. Finally, a single tear rushed from his eye and down his beautiful face. My heart ached for him, but he had turned and left the apartment. For some unknown reason, it had felt as if my world came crashing down in that moment, the moment the door had slid closed behind him.

………………………………………………………………………….

I turned again to what had once been my favorite skyline, to face the world from behind these naked walls. I lifted a shaking hand to my lips, and began to sob.

In that moment of brokenness, I felt a strange sort of warmth emanating from my womb. As I sat on the long, lonely couch, I realized that it was coming from my child. It was not a physical kind of warmth, really; but rather, it was as if my son or daughter was trying to comfort me in my time of need, in an unspoken way. By the intensity of the warmth, I began to question my earlier wonderings if there were more than one child resting in my belly. I knew that something was abnormal, extraordinary about this pregnancy – special, not in a scary way. I rubbed my round belly, and sang softly to my child (children?), who was my very life now.

I began to let my mind wander over the past week or so. Having my husband with me at home had been wonderful, and unnerving at the same time. Something about Anakin was very, very different. His speech had gotten truly strange, increasingly vague as days went by. The last time I had seen him, he explained that _things would be different_. He didn't say which direction things were headed, how things would end up. But he promised me that things would be different. I had no idea what that meant, and it bothered me. I began to suspect that working with the Chancellor was taking a toll on him; it was too much pressure and stress. I couldn't bring myself to tell him so; he would've thought I was calling him weak. He was such a vulnerable young boy beneath his Jedi Knight exterior.

Slowly, but surely, I began to regret our decision to break the rules and marry. As much as I adored Anakin, with all of my very heart and soul, I knew – especially now – that all our sneaking around and deception were not helping him either.

………………………………………………………………………….

My stomach twisted into a knot when the sound of a craft landing outside of my apartment became louder. It was not Anakin, as I had secretly hoped, but instead our dearest friend Obi-Wan Kenobi walked into the apartment. As unexpected as his sudden presence was to me, it was also truly comforting to see him safe and alive, despite the problems at the Jedi Temple. And yet, something about his step and the deep crease of his brow increased my suspicions.

"Obi-Wan, what is it?" I tried not to let my fear show. Years of political practice kept my face calm, but my heart was racing.

"It's about Anakin. I am worried, Padmé." He began to pace the room. I walked far in front of him, remembering Anakin's mention of the Council's mistrust of him. Despite Obi-Wan's loyalty to his padawan, I knew that he, too, was on said Council.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Obi-Wan asked me.

"Yesterday," I answered honestly.

"Do you know where he is now?"

"No," I lied. I had a pretty good idea, but I wasn't willing to betray Anakin's confidence, not even to his concerned Master.

"Padmé," Obi-Wan said gently, "I need your help. Anakin is in grave danger."

"From the Sith?" I demanded, my fear tightening my features, despite my politician's play.

"From him_self_," Obi-Wan told me. He pleaded with his fatherly blue-green eyes.

"Padmé," he began, a deep sorrow flooding those eyes…

"**Anakin has turned to the Dark Side."**

The sadness, the earnest _pain _that washed over Obi-Wan's face at the words he spoke caused them to chill my pounding heart.

"You're wrong!" I told him, defending my precious Ani with denial of such a horrid accusation. "How could you even _say _that?"

Obi-Wan turned away and started to pace again.

"I have seen a… a security hologram of him… killing _younglings_." His hand lifted to his face, just as mine had the day before at Anakin's departure.

"Not Anakin," I argued, pleaded. "He _couldn't_."

"He was deceived by a lie! We _all_ were."

I searched Obi-Wan's face, and he continued. "It appears that the Chancellor is behind everything, including the war. _Palpatine _is the Sith lord we've been looking for," Obi-Wan explained to me remorsefully. "After the death of Count Dooku, Anakin became his new apprentice." He fell silent, and I stepped away from him, shocked and pained.

"I don't believe you," I whispered, my heart stinging at the news. "I _can't_."

Obi-Wan sat down beside me, and I felt my child squirming again. The sound of Obi-Wan's gentle, paternal voice made them happy, I supposed. (Mostly, any Jedi's presence caused a stir in him.) But I was still broken-hearted.

"Padmé, I _must_ find him," Obi-Wan pleaded once more.

I turned to face him, a new fear realized. "You're going to kill him, aren't you?"

The seriousness in his eyes, his face gave me the answer.

"He has become a very great threat," he said.

"I _can't_," was all I managed to say. I stared down at the floor, then at my pregnant stomach, and tried not to cry. Obi-Wan rose from his seat next to me and turned back to look my way. He stared at me, as if realizing something, before speaking again.

"Anakin is the father, isn't he?"

I looked down in silence, shame and fear reddening my cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," was all Obi-Wan said as he turned and left.

………………………………………………………………………….

I walked away from my faithful captain, with Threepio in tow. We climbed aboard the ship, and Threepio made a cheerful comment about flying. I felt anything but cheerful, yet my baby (…babies?) were dancing again. I frowned, trying not to worry even more than I already was. The heat from the planet was strong, even as we were flying over it. I held a hand to my forehead, trying to still my breathing. It was all too much to take in; not my Anakin, not him. Of all the people in the world to become like one of _them _I knew it couldn't be my Ani. And yet…

Finally seeing the cloaked figure I suspected to be Anakin, I rushed down the landing ramp. He walked toward me, and announced that he had seen my ship arrive. He put his arms around me at my prompting, but then asked what I was doing here.

"I was so worried about you," I told him, squeezing his arms. "Obi-Wan told me… terrible things," my voice quivered.

"What things?" Anakin demanded, a deep frown wrinkling his brow.

"That you… turned to the Dark Side, that you… killed _younglings_."

Anakin looked down, as if finding what to say. "Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me," he coaxed.

"He cares about us," I promised him, trying to get him to make sense.

"Us?" he asked, still frowning.

"He _knows_. He wants to help you." Anakin smiled a little, but it was a sarcastic smile, one that made my heart tighten with fear.

"Anakin," I said his name, hoping to instill a shred of hope into his dark eyes. "All I want is your love."

"Love won't save you, Padmé. Only my new powers can do that," he assured me.

"At what cost?" I asked him. "You're a good person; don't do this!" I thought for a moment that my love could save him, that I could bring him home with me and get him to end this madness.

"I won't lose you the way I lost my mother. I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of." He continued to frown. Darkness rolled from him in waves, and it made me realize that Obi-Wan had not been lying. "And I'm doing it for you," he continued, "to protect you."

"Come away with me," I pleaded. "Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind – while we still can!"

"Don't you see?" The scary smile was returning. "We don't have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I… I can overthrow him! And together, you and I can rule the galaxy; make things the way we want them to be!"

I backed away from him then, shaking my head in disbelief and pain.

"I don't believe what I'm hearing," I told him. "Obi-Wan was right, you've _changed_." Tears filled my eyes, blurred my vision.

Then he frowned again. "I don't want to hear anymore about _Obi-Wan_. The Jedi turned against me – don't you turn against me!"

"I don't know you anymore!" I told him, agony flooding my senses. "**_Anakin, you're breaking my heart._** You're going down a path I can't follow."

He looked past me, as if overlooking anything I had to say, or staring at something behind me in the distance. "Because of Obi-Wan?" he asked me, a smug look on his face.

"Because of what you've _done_," I corrected him, "what you plan to do. Stop, stop, come back! I love you!"

He was still looking past me, and this confused me. Then his whole face went sour, and he screamed, "_LIAR_!"

I turned, suddenly realizing what must have him so upset. To my horror, Obi-Wan stood at the top of the landing ramp, in the exact direction Anakin had been staring.

"No!" I screamed, not just at Anakin, but at the whole hopeless situation.

"You were with him!" Anakin accused, the darkness in his face apparent now. "You brought him here to kill me!"

"No," I pleaded. But it was too late, my Anakin was gone. He lifted his arm and clenched his fingers, and suddenly it was as if both of his hands were around my neck, squeezing my throat. Between the pain of the grip and the agony of the fact that it was my _husband_ who was choking me, I could've died right then and not noticed.

Obi-Wan yelled as he descended the ramp, "Let her _go_, Anakin!"

"Anakin," I whispered, barely able to breathe let alone speak.

"Let… her… _go_," Obi-Wan demanded. He was on the same ground as we were now, and getting closer.

And suddenly, the grip was gone, and I fell to the ground in a heap. I nearly blacked out, but I heard Anakin screaming at Obi-Wan, accusing him of turning me against him. Obi-Wan told him that he had done it himself, and that was when everything faded.

………………………………………………………………………….

When I came to, I was lying on a table, mechanical sounds assaulting me and light-receptors staring at me. Then a warm face I recognized came into my vision.

Pain was wracking my small body, my heart was broken completely, but I knew I had a job to do. My baby did nothing to deserve death, and I would do everything I could to let him have a chance. I screamed, and pushed, with gentle melodic promptings from the droid next to me. Soon a tiny body was in the droid's arms, and the feminine voice told me it was a boy. I called him _Luke_, remembering for a brief moment Anakin smiling at the name. Suddenly I felt another contraction, and knew that I had been right all along about the twins. I screamed again, tears blurring my vision, as I pushed my second baby out into the world. Obi-Wan smiled, and told me she was a girl, and I named her _Leia_. Obi-Wan cradled her in his arms, with her squirming and making noise. He tried to smile at me as I spoke to him, but his face flooded with concern. I knew I wasn't going to make it, and I knew he had to know.

He was the only one who could've understood.

"Obi-Wan," I barely whispered, "there's good in him. I know… there's still…"

And then I faded.


End file.
